The environment heaved a sigh of relief during Malta's semi-lockdown yet the progress may just be reversed after restaurants recommencing their operations on Friday were requested to make use of single-use plastic as a mitigation measure to prevent further spread of COVID-19.

Cami Appelgren, one of Malta's leading environmental activists, made reference to this in a recent Facebook post in which she suggested restaurants use: "glass top on the table and a menu underneath which can remain there for everyone to see," instead of disposable menus advised by local authorities.

Highlighting the environment's plight, Cami noted the discrepancy in public attitude: "August 2018: A nation’s outcry against single use plastic when a turtle was airlifted dead from the sea with its stomach full of plastic. April 2020: “Let’s not go back to normal. Normal wasn’t working”... May 2020: Go out and dine with a damn ocean of single use plastic," she wrote. 

Insisting that sustainable solutions are indeed the way forward, Cami warned: "Nature WILL teach us a lesson. Sooner or later. Necause nature WILL survive. We won't."

Acknowledging that single-use plastics in hospitals and health care are necessary, Cami insisted that the consequences stemming from the majority of the population returning to single use mode will be unpleasant.